1993 Johnson 60 hp Fuel issue

Hey fellas, like the title says I have a 93 60 horse. I picked it up and the PO said that he could not get it to stay running (so I figured it was a fuel issue). When I got it home I noticed that the PO had bypassed the VRO and ran his own mix gas. There is a 4 pin connector which is disconnected (purple, tan, black and gray wires). The oil feed tube is plugged. Also, he had the lever on the primer solenoid 90 degrees out from the RUN position. Okay, so that is the background info.

Yesterday I finally finished my rebuild of an old 16' surecast side console. Today was it's first day in the water. Well... it floats well... . It idled fine and even revved up well in the driveway on the muffs. I know that a motor responds differently in the water and this one followed suit. It was tough to get idling, when I finally got it to idle I noticed the motor would bog down under throttle. I looked back and noticed that my clear inline fuel filter was not full. Got it back home and started researching. So I think I am having a problem with the fuel supply as opposed to the carbs.

Here are my questions...
Is the fuel portion the VRO electrical or manual pumping? Should any of those wires that the PO disconnect be connected? Is the VRO the actual fuel pump or is it in the fuel filter housing? I am also going to check over all the connections and make sure that the fuel lines don't have any vacuum leaks. Anything else I should check? Thanks for any info you can toss my way!

Re: 1993 Johnson 60 hp Fuel issue

The fuel side of the VRO is pulse driven off of the engine, no electrics.
The wires were disconnected so that the alarm system for the oil side would not work.
Your fuel filter will not be full, it passes enough fuel to run the engine.
You might try having someone constantly squeeze the primer bulb, that will bypass the fuel punp, and see if it runs better.
If all of your fuel line connections are clean and tight, it almost sounds like it might be time to overhaul the carbs.

Re: 1993 Johnson 60 hp Fuel issue

I will double check all my lines and make sure the connections are all tight and none of the lines have cuts.

Anyone know a part number of a conventional pump I can use to replace my already bypassed VRO?

Re: 1993 Johnson 60 hp Fuel issue

The maxrules website will recomend a pre-mix fuel pump. However, I would confirm yours is bad before buying a new one.

Re: 1993 Johnson 60 hp Fuel issue

You can also get a fuel side repair kit on maxrules for your present vro.